Niv, welcome. As Nick and you yourself point out, the in-ceiling "surround" speakers are far from ideal, firing almost straight down at you as shown in the diagram. As was mentioned, several of our members who didn't have wall space or want to use stands, use brackets to suspend QSs a short distance below the ceiling.

Apparently you already have the ceiling speakers, and if they're going to be used the first point is that the side surrounds should be farther back and spread as widely as possible(even if the ceiling makes them uneven in height), so as to give a little more side rather than overhead effect.

The back surrounds may be of very little benefit if placed as shown(and if Nick's suggestion of mounting them on the wall behind can't be used). You might consider instead using them as front "height" speakers which the 4311 provides for, above the main speakers. In that case the side surrounds could be mounted a couple feet farther back than the couch, in the absence of the back surrounds.

Ok, you guys have really got me thinking about the surrounds. As much as i like the clean look of in ceiling I'm starting to worry about the quality of the sound. I've been thinking about how I could do a pair of QS and have some questions:

Imagine drawing a line, top to bottom on the layout just forward of the fridge, I'm thinking of mounting a pair of QS here, one on each wall. The left QS would actually be in the bar and farther off center than the other one. What do you think of this layout?

Also, I'm thinking a QS4 would stand out less than the QS8, do you think it would be enough?

FYI - although I have already purchased the Yamaha's, I have not yet cut the holes in the ceiling which I suppose is even more important.

Ok, I'm seriously thinking about ditching the in-ceiling left and right surrounds and getting a pair of QS8's mounted on the walls. I'll keep the two Yamaha's for the back surrounds. I could possibly build two weather proof cases for the two unused Yamaha's and put them out on the patio for a second zone. The wife is going to flip when she sees the charge, I'll have to say that the outdoor speakers were a little more expensive than I thought Here is the revised layout, any comments? I'm really glad you guys got me focusing more on the quality of the sound vs the look of in-ceiling speaks, thanks!

Niv, If i was you, i would hang the SL speaker off of the ceiling just infront of the bar off of the soffet maybe, the soffet appears to be about a 2ft drop from the ceiling? The current position that you have the SL, it appears to be 2X the distance from the sitting area as the SR. While this can be compensated for by increasing the level of the SL, i have a feeling with the open space involved, the end result will not be as good as it could be if the speaker was physically closer to the listening area, so try to get the SL/SR both approximately the same distance from the listener.

Actually, if i were you. I would just go with a 5.1 setup as Nick eluded to.. Use QS8's as the rear speakers, and not use the RL/RR option at all.

Other's my disagree with the 5.1 option, but i don't think that there is enough space in this room to fully take advantage of the 7.1 option, and as you stated you want to efficiently use your cash. The 5.1 option would allow you to use the yamaha's on the patio.

Thanks for the pictures. I still stick with the 5.1 is plenty for the space, but if you "must have" 7.1, then as I mentioned and Dak stated too, put the one on the soffit instead of in the bar area. You would need to crank the volume up and work with the large delay due to distance and amount of air volume that the sound would need to travel through to get to the listening area.

Then again, using a pair of QS8s and ditching the in-ceiling speakers and going with a 5.1 setup will really do a lot better than a questionable 7.1 setup.

I have been wanting 7.1 for a long time, but have been totally happy with my 5.1 setup for years. In my current setup, I went 7.1, but only because I have 2 rows of seats. Even movies encoded in 7.1 (which aren't many) aren't *that* much different sounding than a 5.1 setup.

Ok, you guys are starting to sway me towards 5.1, i guess i would replace the rear in-ceiling speaks with a pair of QS8's hanging on ceiling brackets. I have the wires for the rears already in the ceiling, i had planned on accessing them when I cut the 8" holes for the speakers. If I hang the QS8's on ceiling brackets, I would not be cutting those holes, any ideas on how I would go about getting to the wires?

Another question on 7.1 vs 5.1 if i set up a 7.1 system and am playing 5.1 content, are the sides completely dead? If so, I think I would be wasting the QS8's if 80% of my content is going only to the back yahama's.

If I kept the 7.1 setup I don't think hanging the SL from the soffit is an option, it would be to much in the way of everything. I am still considering the QS8 on the bar wall with some adjustment, i know its not optimal but I would hope that it wouldn't be a deal breaker. That soffit is really breaking my balls.